Care
by JacAlley
Summary: AJ cared enough to break Kaitlyn now before someone else had the chance. A drabble collection leading up to the Divas match at Payback from a variety of POVs. Possible AJ/Kaitlyn.
1. Care

No rhyme or reason to any of these, but they will all be linked. Writing as I go. Will likely end up AJ/Kaitlyn, so it's rated M for that reason.

* * *

AJ burst into the deserted Diva's locker room.

(AJ's heavy breaths – she's still buzzing with anger, it's pouring out of her, seeping out her pores – echo all around her and give her a vague awareness of where the walls are when the echoes bounce and make their way back into her ringing ears. It's this knowledge that allows her to stomp her way across the floor and slide down the wall to sit and angrily work the knots from her Chucks, unlacing them and tearing them off, throwing them until they smash against the lockers and smack onto the floor.)

It's so late in the show now, and all the Divas who hate Kaitlyn didn't even care enough to stay and watch her get humiliated. _("That's what YouTube's for,"_ Brie Bella snorted earlier that night.)

All Kaitlyn's friends were waiting for her behind the stage and AJ was still trying to convince herself that their presence didn't phase her one bit.

But it did.

It bothered her – a little nagging thing that was only just starting to creep it's way up under all the satisfaction and anger and fury and confusion that ran through her almost all the time.

Kaitlyn's so-called friends hadn't come out. They hadn't tried to save Kaitlyn from her wicked plan, her biting words. Not Natalya and her permanently concerned expression. Not the Funktadactyls and their massive asses. Not Hornswoggle or Khali or any of the other morons that Kaitlyn associated with these days.

It infuriated AJ that even now, even when she hated Kaitlyn, despised her, wanted to destroy her entire world and send her back to Texas never to be seen again, (AJ wanted her gone, any reminder of that Narcissa Malfoy looking, Simpsons-obsessed wannabe removed from her life _permanently_), she still _somehow_ cared the most. She cared enough to set Kaitlyn up for this massive letdown and send her off on this winding and dangerous road, so that maybe she would get what it was like to be as crazy and alone – _as abandoned_ – as AJ.

AJ still cared the most.

She cared enough to break Kaitlyn now before someone else who didn't care the way she did had the chance.


	2. Phoenix

Kaitlyn may as well have been alone in this packed arena. At least, that was how she felt. (Really, where were any of her friends? Was no one going to come out and help her or put AJ in their place? Not that she needed other people to fight her battles, but it would have been nice!)

AJ slowly making her way up the ramp, still holding her gaze…

Neither wavered.

Her pounding heart. The embarrassment, the pain, the humiliation. The I-should-have-known-it. The anger and the hurt. The quick numbing of it all as the adrenaline pumped into her blood.

Tunnel vision. Tunnel hearing. Tunnel_ everything_. (It's crazy how perception changes with such single-minded focus.)

AJ's stupid face and her stupid hair and that stupid expression – proud that she'd totally duped Kaitlyn – consumed her vision.

It hurt. It was fiery and it consumed her. It burned and twisted and she wouldn't be surprised to eventually catch a glimpse of herself up on the screen, flames quickly turning to a pile of ash. Nothing left of her but the pungent scent of anger.

She knew they would eventually come to this. Be on the brink of something bigger, something crazier.

The craziest part (crazier than even AJ, which was hard to imagine) was that the flames were starting to dull. But Kaitlyn knew they still burned. They just weren't painful, weren't destroying her.

She was growing stronger because of them – burning with rage. Burning to burn AJ, not herself.

On Sunday, they would fight. But this war wouldn't be over. Not by a long shot.

Because this battle had only just begun.


	3. Ponies

Author's Note: Big E Langston loves _A Different World_. Do with that what you will.

Warnings: This drabble is rampant with My Little Pony references. I apologize. So much.

_I take the term "dumped" very seriously._

God he was fucking clever.

And his shirt was fresh as fuck too, so…

Big E's day was going pretty well.

Several weeks back, when AJ had texted him her devious plans while he watched reruns of _Living Single_ and set about combing out all 500 of his My Little Ponies, he'd been briefly bothered by the idea that he would ever have to pretend Kaitlyn was anything resembling attractive or interesting.

But then, he and AJ had stumbled upon that hat (which, in his opinion was better suited to a chorus member in a high school production of _Flashdance_). And after they'd spent the better part of 15 minutes taking videos of them wearing it and imitating Kaitlyn, he'd bought it. And at the look of absolute disbelief on AJ's face, he'd uttered, "I'm in," and the rest was history.

And now tonight, when he'd received his payment from AJ (the complete series box sets of _Martin_ and _Fraggle Rock_ waiting in his suitcase at the hotel were calling to him with their mystical magic) and the flowers he gave to Kaitlyn, he'd been ready to go.

He'd almost kissed Kaitlyn. Because he was convinced her lips probably tasted like Duff beer, and he'd always wanted to try the stuff…but she was also gross and nothing like his queen, the incomparable Bette Midler. And also because he knew AJ would have loved it even more. Which was why it had taken him so long to throw her to the ground (because his hesitation wasn't to prolong anything; Big E didn't do hesitation – he did quick and dirty).

It was only when he got back to his hotel room and saw Fluttershy perched on the writing desk that he actually felt bad for dropping Kaitlyn's ass like a hot potato. Poor Fluttershy, who was always so…_shy_. Would he have done something like this to Fluttershy if she was a vulnerable WWE Diva? Would he lie and make her think he liked her and then cause her to bust her ass (and flash her cooch – that had definitely also happened tonight if Kaitlyn's dress length was any indication) just to humiliate her because of peer pressure?

Suddenly, he spotted Rainbow Dash on top of the television. He could feel her piercing, angry stare. Would he have made a tomboy like Rainbow Dash feel pretty and loved and girly for the first time only to crush her hopes and dreams?

And, _oh God! The horror! No! Don't you do this to me!_

Princess Celestia lay against the pillows of his bed, awaiting their nightly snuggle. But Big E couldn't bare to look at her. Princess Celestia, who spent all her time teaching others the value of friendship…and Big E's values were so confused. Because over the course of being Kaitlyn's "secret admirer", he'd gotten to know the skunky-haired girl over twitter and she just seemed like she needed a friend now that AJ was his and not hers. He'd feigned camaraderie with the Divas' champ to throw her off AJ's tracks. He had used friendship for evil. _He hadn't been Princess Celestia's faithful student_.

His ponies were judging him. This would not do.


	4. Chick Psychology

Dolph is my favorite but he's kind of gross about women here. What else is new.

* * *

Dolph had to give his little snuggle bunny credit: she knew what she wanted and she was ruthless in her pursuit of it.

But, he was a little worried. Despite all of Dolph's questioning, AJ swore up and down that her entire vendetta against Kaitlyn was now purely about the Diva's title.

Her speech out there said otherwise.

Dolph was not a forgetful man (he couldn't be; he had to remember where each and every hair on his head went and who he was holding grudges against for their lack of time spent staring at him in awe). But he could remember every word that he'd said to AJ in November…and AJ had said every one of them to Kaitlyn in that ring tonight – and then some.

Dolph understood the motive behind his speech. He was desperate for AJ and her tight little ass, so he'd called her trash and chipped away at her self-esteem just so she would seek his approval. She did, and easily got it.

Calling AJ trash had worked out pretty well for him because she became obsessed with proving she wasn't. He'd never thought she was, but just planting the thought in AJ's pretty little head had been enough to convince her she needed to prove her worth. He'd even manage to steal her away from Cena – two birds, one stone.

But he was pretty sure Kaitlyn wasn't going to try and prove herself to AJ and end up in bed with her (but God, if she did, Dolph _really_ hoped he was there for it). Kaitlyn was surprisingly strong willed, much stronger willed than AJ from Dolph's experience. If AJ thought she could make Kaitlyn come crawling back, maybe add her to their posse, just by being mean…Dolph was sad to say his lil' mama was sadly mistaken.

So what the fuck could AJ be after? He knew she was smarter than to think Kaitlyn would come back to her this way; everything AJ had said out there was far too personal and painful. Dolph got chick psychology – he was an almost-lawyer, a former cheerleader, and a ladies' man after all – but even this was making little sense.

And what if AJ didn't manage to get anything she wanted out of Kaitlyn before Sunday?

Dolph had to figure this out, and fast. He needed to get AJ psyched up beyond just wanting to make Kaitlyn feel bad if she was going to get her hands on that title – if they were going to reign together.

He had to get to the bottom of her copycat tirade against the blonde…brunette…blonde…(he was just going to settle on Kaitlyn having hair). What, other than the title and a little revenge, was AJ after? When he figured that out, and figured out how to get it for her, they would both have everything they wanted and they could ride off happily ever after (ever being a metaphor for six to eight more months) on a hot pink and teal rainbow.


End file.
